Aston University bucks national trend on graduate employment

Aston University students are again among the most employable in the UK, with over 80 per cent of its 2009 graduates finding graduate- level employment against a national average of less than 65%

The Higher Education Careers Service Unit’s (HECSU) latest statistics show that the number of UK graduates unable to find work has reached levels not seen since 1993, with graduate unemployment rising to 8.9 per cent, up one per cent from the previous year. Graduate level employment also dropped to 63% nationally.

Aston University has reversed this national decline in graduate-level employment, with 81.8 per cent of its students entering into graduate-level jobs, up from 80 per cent last year. It is the third successive year that Aston’s graduate level employment has been at 80 per cent or above, placing Aston well above the national UK graduate employment average. ‘Graduate level’ jobs are defined by the government as those careers which are professional in nature and/or where a degree was a necessary or preferred requirement for the role.

Stewart Comfort, Director of Marketing at Aston University, said; “We welcome these findings in what is an increasingly difficult and competitive time in the jobs market. Offering high quality study alongside relevant employment makes for highly employable graduates, but we realise that there are still graduates looking for employment or further study opportunities. Aston is supporting a number of regional and national initiatives to help maintain our reputation for graduate employment success. We’d urge all Aston students needing any help and support to make full use of Aston University Careers and Employability Centre for help and advice.”

The latest success for Aston in HECSU statistics follow on from figures from the same survey released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) for 2009 graduates. These highlighted that Aston’s graduate employment levels were the highest in the West Midlands and above fellow established universities including Birmingham, Loughborough and Warwick amongst many others.

Aston University also had 60 per cent of its students enrolled on degrees involving sandwich placement years, the highest of any UK university. This makes it one of only 5 UK Universities where more than 50% of students take sandwich programmes: (Aston, Bath, Surrey, Ulster, and Bournemouth).

The Sunday Times University Guide ranked Aston University10th out of all UK Universities for its graduate-level employment success over the last 3 years and above 14 of the 20 Russell Group Universities.

For further information contact Alex Earnshaw, Aston University Communications on 0121 204 4549